1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to telecommunications; more particularly, to the reallocation of network resources.
2. Description of the Related Art
Communication systems have a finite number of resources. Those resources include, for example, equipment, fibers, conductors, signal processors, and radio frequency spectrum. The amount of available capacity in a communication network varies with the number of users. When a large number of users are utilizing the network, there may be insufficient network resources to support new users. Additionally, the amount of available capacity varies as equipment is taken offline for maintenance or repair. Presently, when there are insufficient resources to support new callers or users, the new user is refused service which results in user annoyance and dissatisfaction.
The present invention solves the aforementioned problems by varying the class of service to existing users. The class of service is varied by changing, for example, speech clarity, data transfer rate or error correction capability. Downgrading a class of service for existing users frees up communication network resources for new users. This avoids frustrating new users who are attempting to start new calls. Additionally, users on existing calls are not dissatisfied by a decrease in the class of service because they have previously agreed to accept downgrades and receive a price discount for the decreased service. It is also possible for users to refuse a downgrade in service in real-time. For example, while a call is in progress the user is given an opportunity to refuse the communication system""s request to downgrade the call""s class of service. Callers who have this right of refusal receive a more modest price discount than users who unconditionally accept service downgrades.
The communication system monitors the resources that are available for new users. When the availability of resources becomes too small or falls below a predetermined threshold, the communication system initiates a reduction in the the class of service to selected users. The class of service can be reduced by reducing the quality of service provided to existing communications or by providing the new users with only lower quality communications. The quality of communications may be reduced, for example, by decreasing the number of channels made available to a particular user and thereby decreasing the data transfer rate, decreasing the amount of error encoding used to detect and correct errors introduced by a communication channel, or in the case of a wireless system, using a lower rate vocoder (voice encoder) which will reduce the voice quality or clarity of the speech transmitted over the communication channel.